1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a musical instrument and, more particularly, to a musical therapy instrument for assisting in the development of verbal and musical skills in children, for the rehabilitation of such skills in the elderly, and for the treatment of patients suffering from disorders such as dementia, aphasia, and other functional disorders of the brain.
2. Background Information
The beneficial effects of musical therapy in the development of verbal and musical skills in children, in the reconstruction of the speech faculty and memory of the elderly, and in the treatment of patients suffering from disorders such as dementia, aphasia, and other functional disorders of the brain, have been widely recognized. It is well known that musical therapy has significant beneficial effects in the treatment of such disorders, and this is especially so when songs familiar to and enjoyed by the patient are used during administration of the therapy.
For example, in patients suffering from dementia, musical therapy has been demonstrated to be an effective and useful therapy widely administered to assist such patients in the recovery of his or her sense of reality and to enable the patient to return to active life. In such cases, the therapy has an uplifting and positive effect on the patient, and serves to stimulate the patient's desire and ability to regain forgotten memories by use of cognitive associative functions enabled when the patient is urged to listen to or sing a song familiar to and enjoyed by him or her.
In addition, in patients suffering from aphasia caused by severe head trauma or other damage to the brain, it is well known that many patients undergoing musical therapy begin to vocalize the words of particular songs within their memories when the patients are stimulated and urged to listen to or to sing a song familiar to him or her. Accordingly, musical therapy has, in many instances, served as a highly effective therapy for reconstruction of the speech faculty in the brain of aphasiac patients.
In patients suffering from severe physical disabilities, however, the administration of musical therapy using conventional musical instruments or devices is difficult. For example, functional disorders of the brain such as dementia and aphasia are often accompanied by physical manifestations or conditions which limit or profoundly curtail the patient's ability of physical movement. As a result, it is often difficult for such patients to voluntarily sing a song, and, in many cases, it is difficult or impossible for such patients to manipulate the keys or strings of a conventional musical instrument due to the loss of manual dexterity. Small children and some elderly persons may also lack the physical and/or mental ability to play a conventional instrument.
It is also known that the beneficial effects of musical therapy are highly related to individual musical tastes and abilities. Thus, while physicians, nurses and other therapists engaged in the administration of musical therapy generally attempt to select a song for a therapy session that is well suited to a particular patient, the selection process becomes more complicated in the administration of group therapy. When a group of patients are urged to listen to a selected song and, if possible, to sing along with the melody or play the song using a musical instrument or other device specially designed to produce musical and/or vocal accompaniment, the therapy is more effective in patients to whom the song is best suited, i.e., those patients who are familiar with and enjoy the song.
Due to the lack of an adequate number of qualified therapists to accommodate the rapidly increasing number of persons in need of such treatment, musical therapy is often administered simultaneously to a group of patients. Since musical abilities and tastes vary widely among patients in different age groups and in patients having different physical and mental disabilities and life experiences, however, group therapy has not generally obtained the same level of success obtained by individual treatment.
Accordingly, there is a need for a musical therapy instrument which is capable of use by patients having severely limited physical abilities and which is effective in restoring verbal and speech faculties without the need for direct therapist supervision.